“Our dad taught us self-defense when I was 5 years old,” Jose Roman said. “He didn't want anyone picking on us in school or anywhere and he taught us how to defend ourselves.”

Fast forward to 2012 and both brothers, who attended Garden Grove High, are off to undefeated starts. Jessie, 21, is 12-0 with eight knockouts. Jose, 24, is 14-0 with 11 knockouts.

The brothers are different in the ring.

“He's a little bit more technical,” Jose said Jessie. “I'm more of a brawler. Our father taught us to always be strong in the ring.”

Jose Roman will return to the ring Saturday night against Javier Garcia in a scheduled eight-round lightweight bout at The Home Depot Center tennis stadium on the undercard of the Nonito Donaire-Toshiaki Nishioka junior-featherweight title fight.

Both brothers started their amateur careers before they were 10.

“When I first started, I didn't like this sport,” Jose Roman said. “I used to like soccer.

“But my dad turned me on to boxing, because that's the only sport that he knew. That was the only sport that he could teach us how to do well. I didn't really start liking this sport until I turned 17, 18 and I started traveling, started getting some money and going to national tournaments.”

Roman will be in his third eight-round fight. In his brief career, just four of his fights have gone the distance. Eight of his past 10 fights were stopped early. In his most recent fight in July, Roman defeated Rodolfo Armenta by fifth-round knockout.

The journey to this fight with Garcia has been a difficult one filled with postponements.

They were originally scheduled to fight in March, but Roman fell ill before the fight. A new date was set a month later, but Garcia suffered an injury. Then in July they were supposed to meet, but Roman went in against Armenta.

July then turned into September. Roman and Garcia were scheduled for a televised show from Las Vegas, two days before the Sept. 15 middleweight title fight between Sergio Martinez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

As the months progressed, animosity developed between the two camps.

Garcia accused Roman of trying to find an excuse out of their first scheduled fight in May.

“I guess it's just their team that likes to talk a lot,” Roman said. “I don't know if it is to promote the fight more or if they have issues with me.

“I'm personally not going to talk smack on anyone over the internet. I would do it in their face.”

NOTES

The weigh-ins for Saturday's card are Friday at 3 p.m. at the Manhattan Beach Marriott. They are open to the public …

Tickets are available and can be purchased at The Home Depot Center Box Office. The lowest-priced tickets available are $35 …

The first fight is at 4 p.m., with the HBO telecast (Brandon Rios-Mike Alvarado) starting at 7 p.m. The main event (Donaire-Nishioka) will be in the ring at approximately 8 p.m. …

The Nevada State Athletic Commission temporarily suspended Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. after the former middleweight champion failed a drug test. The commission made the standard procedural move Tuesday. Chavez tested positive for marijuana use last month.

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